From: Les Young [pastorles@comcast.net]
"Grace Stepped In"
Date: Jan 11, 2007
Dearly beloved of God:
I was playing tennis this morning..........
Er, please excuse me for a moment. I realize that some of you may not understand tennis, and others may not care. I also know that my friend, astor Cal Lord, in his writings for the Spiritual Page, finds many bibical analogies in all sorts of every day experiences. I try, and sometimes succeed. However, it seems that God does talk to me a lot through the game of tennis. So, to continue.......
I was playing tennis this morning...........Let me rephrase that. At 6:30 AM I showed up at the tennis court, where I had trouble keeping the sleep out of my eyes. My body was still stiff from an unusual amount of physical labor on Monday and Tuesday; one of my toes ached from having worn a bad pair of socks (that's another story) and my mind was constantly wrestling with matters concerning the church. Needless to say, before I knew it I was in a big hole. For the tennis affectionados, I was down 3-4, and my opponent was ahead 40-0 on his serve. For the rest of you, I was getting whupped. My opponent had hit a hard, short, cross-court angled shot (a good shot) and with stiff legs and sore toes I made a half hearted attempt to get to it. Somehow, I was able to get my raccquette on the ball, making a desparate and uncontrolled swipe in the process. The ball went flying into the cord that supports the net, but the spin carried it upward about 3 inches where it hit the top of the cord, bounced and hit it again, bounced and dropped on my opponents side - splat! It was at that moment that I heard the words, "Grace Stepped In." (If it's not the title of a book, it should be.)
I did not deserve that point. I had lost heart in playing the game and I had hit a lousy shot that somehow turned into a winner. Grace stepped in! All of a sudden, my heavy eyes brightened, the stiffness was gone and I wasn't even aware of the toes. I think I lost only one ore two points for the rest of the set, finally winning at 6-4.
The point is not about tennis, but tennis parallels life in many aspects. A tennis match can be over quickly, or it can go on for hours. Life can be short or long. There is no particular time limit. Tennis allows for comebacks because the winner has to win every game and then the set which is made up of those games by a margin of two. So, the winner is not the one that gets to a particular point total first, but he has to get there by a margin of two. Life allows for comebacks. Tennis goes better if you can serve well. Life goes better if you serve well. Tennis isn't over until its over. Life isn't over until its over. Nobody wins at tennis without a bit of grace (some call it luck, but I know better). Nobody wins at life without grace.
Romans 3:10 (NIV)
10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
But Grace stepped in.
Romans 3:23 (NIV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
But Grace stepped in.
Romans 6:23 (NIV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, (But Grace stepped in) but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And now, instead of being losers.... Romans 8:37-39 (NIV)
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Instead of being lost.....Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
To properly restate an old bumper sticker, "Grace Happens"
Walk in Grace my friends. God loves you and so do I.
Yours for His Purposes,
Pastor Les
